I'm Gonna Take a Sick Day
by LizzyLovesPink
Summary: The Inners come down with a bad stomach bug and it's up to the Outers to take care of them-even though they have no idea what they're doing. Also, just where ARE the Inners' parents? And what happens when Senshi business calls them? An idea I got while recovering from a stomach bug of my own. -FINISHED!-
1. Nurse Hotaru

"What do you mean, you can't show up?" Setsuna asked into her phone. "Is everyone like that? Is everyone sick? Oh, I see. Okay." She hung it up and glanced over at the other three. "So all the Inner Senshi have managed to get themselves sick and won't be useful in battle or anything until they recover."

"What are they sick with?" Michiru asked.

"According to Ami-san, a really bad stomach bug. They can barely get up from their beds."

"Let's take care of them!" Hotaru suddenly announced, making the three look over at her. "Well, why not? They'd do the same for us if we were sick, why not do it for them? Besides, we're their friends, and this is the best way to show we care!"

"I don't see any harm in that. It sounds like fun, actually!" Michiru smiled.

################

Ami was lying on her couch when she heard a loud but polite knock on her front door. She quickly jumped out of her bed but slowly trudged over to the front door and opened it. "Hello?" She asked in a slow voice, her eyes widening when she saw Hotaru there. "Hotaru-chan! Why are you here?"

"I'm here to be your caretaker! I heard you were really sick, so..." She poked her head inside. "May I please come in?"

"Sure." Ami held the door open for her and flopped back onto the couch. She couldn't help but to notice Hotaru was dressed like a nurse with a conservative mindset. She had on a pink blouse, a white apron that went to her knees and had two pockets, brown tights, white nurse shoes, and a pink nurse's cap.

"You like my outfit? Haruka-papa tried to dress me in something more revealing, but Setsuna-mama put a stop to it very quickly. She said something like this was more fitting for a ten-year-old girl." Hotaru smiled, and Ami sighed.

"Sounds like Haruka-san." The TV was on but muted, and Hotaru looked over at it.

"Do you want me to unmute this?"

"No, I had a hard time concentrating on it. It was mainly just background noise my mom said would soothe me."

Hotaru turned it off and felt Ami's forehead. "You're really warm!" She said in surprise.

"Yeah, Mom took my temperature shortly before she left. It's not very high, but I still have a fever." Ami explained. Her pajamas were chosen in consideration to her condition, they were a light blue frilly camisole with matching frilly shorts. "I don't need much, I just feel really tired."

"I understand. Well, if you ever _do_ need something, Nurse Hotaru is here to take care of you!" She posed with a grin, making Ami smile weakly. She kneeled by the couch. "On more serious matters, do you think this is the work of the enemy? Do you think they made you guys sick so you couldn't go after them?"

"I don't think so. After all, that would require knowing our identities, and as far as I know, they don't know them. They would have to infect the entire town, and you guys and Mom aren't sick. It's probably just your average, run-of-the-mill stomach bug."

"Oh, well that's not as fun! At least it's not a plan by the enemies!" Hotaru giggled. Ami giggled as well, then held her stomach.

"Quick, bring me that blue bowl on the kitchen table!" She directed, making Hotaru spring up and run over to it, pluck it off the table, and dash back over to Ami. She set it beside the couch on the floor, and Ami leaned over it and loudly vomited orangish-brown vomit into it. Afterwards she wiped her mouth off and rolled over on the other side.

"Looks like chocolate chips and pepperoni!" Hotaru noticed.

"My dinner. Mom didn't know I was sick last night, so we ate gourmet pizza and chocolate-chip cookies. It's been coming up all this morning and it burns." Ami started coughing.

"Do you want me to rinse this out?" Hotaru asked, but Ami shook her head.

"Just leave it there in case I need it again..." Shortly after she said that, she fell asleep, leaving Hotaru with nothing to do. The smell of the vomit was too strong for her, so she decided to explore Ami's so-called mansion.

It wasn't so much a mansion as it was a really fancy apartment building, but Hotaru could still see signs of their great wealth here and there. She walked into the kitchen and found everything covered in stainless steel, with the marble floor polished perfectly and the light shining brightly over everything. Next to it was a small but lavish dining room, with polished golden oak floors, a huge cupboard lined with various colors of china plates, a glass dining table, and a crystal chandelier overhead.

Hotaru went back into the living room to check on Ami, who was still asleep. She managed to tangle herself up in her blanket, possibly due to her constant squirming, so Hotaru gently untangled it the best she could without waking her and wrapped her up in it again. The living room was quite modest, with only a flat-screen TV, orient rug, and marble statue showing off their status. She ran into the hallway, finding several doorways there. She pulled open one to find a computer room and went inside.

Inside she found a marble desk with a computer sitting on top and several tall bookcases which were stuffed with various textbooks, most of them medical. Out of curiosity, she pulled one out and opened it, finding a chapter on the common cold. She put it back and looked behind her, finding a giant black telescope. She went over to it and found its coordinates already programmed in the direction of the planet Mercury, and she smiled to herself as she wondered who could've possibly used it last. Hotaru left that room and shut the door, then went into the bedroom directly across from it, which turned out to be Ami's actual bedroom.

She was expecting some sort of blue watery theme, but the room was pretty generic looking, in her thoughts. Her bed was dark green and was covered in giant colored pillows, and there was a white silk curtain around it that could be drawn around her for privacy. Several bookshelves lined her walls, and Hotaru was surprised to find a a manga volume here and there. She even managed to find a recent edition of _Run-Run._ There was a white dresser on one side, which Hotaru didn't open, and also a closet, which Hotaru did open. She found several formal dresses hanging up, along with a dozen pair of shoes. A bunch of old childhood dolls and toys were in there as well, but instead of just being shoved in, they were set up in little scenes that captured them eternally. She shut the closet door and left Ami's bedroom, trying the door next to it, only to find it locked.

She figured that was Ami's mom's room and therefore had locked it for a good reason. She tried the last door and found a bathroom behind it, which was all painted in a rosy pink color. The toilet was pink, the sink was pink, and their small bathtub was pink. She noticed it also had a shower nozzle attached to it, and thought the idea of combining them was strange. She quickly ran back to the living room to check on Ami again, finding her awake and sitting up on the couch, holding her head. Hotaru ran over to her.

"Are you okay? Do you need anything?" She asked worriedly, but Ami shook her head.

"I'm sorry for waking up so early, but I was having a really strange fever dream." She explained. "I wonder if my fever is getting worse..."

"Hold on, I'll get something for it!" Hotaru ran into the kitchen and found a washcloth hanging over the sink, and she quickly ran cold water over it and placed it on Ami's forehead. "Do you think that'll help?"

"It should bring my fever down a little." Ami answered.

"Do you remember what your fever dream was about?" Hotaru asked, crouching next to her.

"I can't remember it very well, I just remember seeing someone in a dark hallway holding a candle. I couldn't make out their face, but they were dressed in Rei-chan's clothes. They started running towards me, crying for their mother, but right before they grabbed me, I woke up."

"Well, fever dreams aren't supposed to make much sense."

"True." Ami started coughing really hard and leaned over her basin and vomited again. Afterwards she kept coughing, and Hotaru jumped up again. Ami simply giggled weakly and wiped her tears. "I'm a terrible doctor, here I am getting sick!"

"Nonsense, doctors can't help it if they get sick too! It's a risk of business, but if you love what you do, then who cares what happens?" Hotaru demanded. "Besides, you're not a doctor yet, so it's fine if you get sick."

"I _could_ be, if I wanted to be. In some countries, there are doctors who are sixteen, like me! And they're certified and everything!" Ami insisted.

"Did I ever tell you what I wanted to be?" Hotaru asked, and Ami shook her head. "I wanna be a nurse when I grow up. I want to help improve the health of others!" She smiled.

"What a great dream! I just want to be a doctor because Mom's one. I saw how hard she worked to make people feel better, and I thought to myself: 'That's who I want to be.'"

"Maybe we could work together someday! You could be the head doctor of the establishment. Before you came along, nobody knew what to do. But then, Doctor Mizuno Ami came along and solved the case, and everyone instantly made her the head doctor. But of course, she would be nothing without her trusty Nurse Tomoe Hotaru by her side!" Hotaru laughed, describing it. Ami laughed weakly.

"Why did you come over here to help me, anyway?" Ami asked. She laid back down and adjusted her washcloth accordingly.

"It was my idea all along once I found out you guys got sick to help you. I said that if we got sick, you guys would take care of us, so we should do the same. Surprisingly, my guardians all agreed." Hotaru explained.

"Where are the others?"

"Setsuna-mama's with Minako-san, Michiru-mama's with both Makoto-san and Rei-san, and Haruka-papa is with Usagi-san and Chibiusa-chan!" She smiled.

"Sounds about right. I wonder if they're having any trouble?"

"Maybe, maybe not. You're a very good patient, you know."

"Thank you, Nurse Hotaru." They both giggled. Ami's communicator suddenly beeped, and she looked over at it on the coffee table. Hotaru brought it to her and she turned it on.

"Ami-chan, there's some Senshi business going on! You have to get downtown quickly!" Makoto commanded her.

"But we can't fight! We're all sick!" Ami protested.

"That's what Michiru-san told me, but I just told her Senshi business waits for nobody, even if they're sick. If Hotaru-chan is with you, bring her along too. We need a lot of help!" She suddenly started coughing and hung up the call, leaving both Ami and Hotaru to stare at each other.

"She's right, Senshi business is important! But at the same time, you're sick! Nobody wants a barfy Sailor Senshi!" Hotaru cried.

"Whatever happens, happens. Everyone else is sick, but they're still down there." Ami jumped out of bed. "Come on, let's do this!" She ran into her bedroom to get her pen. Hotaru pulled hers out of her pocket.

"Somehow I can't shake the feeling that this is a bad idea..."

####################

Super Sailor Mercury and Super Sailor Saturn soon found themselves where the Senshi told them to be, and the scene wasn't like they pictured. They found the three transformed Outers scolding the transformed Inners for not listening to them and staying in bed like they were supposed to. By the sounds of it, their patients had given them a much harder time than Ami had given Hotaru. Mercury started coughing again, making the team look over at them.

"Saturn! You're finally here! Now you can help us defeat the monster!" Super Sailor Uranus announced.

"No way, we'll deal with it!" Super Sailor Mars shot back.

"You're too sick! We told you to stay in bed!" Super Sailor Neptune snapped at her.

"We're fine!" Super Sailor Jupiter promised. "Right guys?"

Mercury simply turned around and vomited on the ground again, making the girls gasp in surprise.

"Well, no matter! We can still defeat this monster!" Jupiter jumped out of hiding and did her traditional pose.

"Sailor Senshi have shown up? How annoying." Sailor Lead Crow rolled her eyes.

"You bet we've shown up, and this time, since you interrupted our recovery, we won't go easy on you!" Super Sailor Venus promised, posing as well.

"Recovery? What do you mean?" She asked, her curiosity peaking a bit.

"We're ill with a stomach bug, and we really don't feel like fighting anything, so just go away!" Mars demanded, also doing her pose.

"Why would I do that? The person I checked already had a dull Star Seed, which means they'll turn into a monster, which means you have to deal with them!" She grinned.

"Just leave us alone!" Eternal Sailor Moon pointed at her.

"Also, you guys might want to invest in a better shower, you all stink of vomit." Her phone-booth appeared and she stepped inside it. "So long!" She laughed and vanished, leaving the girls alone.

"How rude! We only smell like vomit because that's what we've been doing all day!" Jupiter protested. The woman suddenly turned into a monstrous form of a nurse.

"Sailor Nurse!" She laughed.

"What are the odds that we're being attacked by what we actually needed?" Mars asked.

"And why am I getting vibes that we've done something like this before...?" Venus started to wonder.

"Time for your checkups!" The monster formed a stethoscope and twirled it around, wrapping it around both Mars and Venus. She tightened it, making the two girls cry out in pain.

"Deep Submerge!" Neptune fired her attack at the monster, knocking her back.

"Time to check those reflexes!" She formed a giant hammer and aimed it at Mercury, who was still in the middle of a coughing fit.

"Mercury! Look out!" Saturn cried, pushing her out of the way and having the hammer narrowly miss them.

"You saved me!" Mercury said in surprise. "You really are an amazing nurse." Saturn smiled at her, and Mercury smiled back.

"Time to take your medicine!" The monster flicked her wrist and several types of pills fired out at Eternal Sailor Moon, making her scream and run away.

"Mars! Flame Sniper!" Mars fired her own attack at the pills aimed at her and melted them all. She suddenly swooned from her illness and leaned against a nearby pole.

"Venus! Love and Beauty Shock!" Venus fired her attack at the monster, knocking her down to the ground. "Now, Sailor Moon!"

"Alright!" Eternal Sailor Moon formed her wand. "Silver Moon! Crystal Power Kiss!" She fired her attack at the monster, making her scream.

"Beautiful!" She turned back into a regular woman and passed out, her Star Seed going back into her forehead.

"See? We did alright for being sick! Just admit it!" Mars grinned.

"Only because we were here! If we weren't, you guys would've been dead!" Uranus insisted.

"But now it's back to your houses to care for you more..." Super Sailor Pluto sighed a bit, as if she was dreading that moment.

"Be more excited than that! I am an amazing patient!" Venus smiled and ran over to Pluto.

"Most of you were, until your fevers went down..." Neptune held her own head.

"Come on, let's go back to your place!" Saturn smiled at Mercury, who smiled back. They quickly left the bickering Inners and Outers alone.

#################

Hotaru rinsed the pizza-cookie barf out from Ami's basin in the sink and gave it back to her. Ami had fallen asleep almost as soon as they had gotten home, which Hotaru simply smiled at. She sure could sleep when she was sick. She wasn't sure what else to do, so she pulled out one of Ami's own books and started reading it. Ami had woken up several times in the day, but she would almost immediately fall back asleep. Her fever had gone down significantly, but she still wasn't able to keep anything down. As Hotaru was sitting in the living room reading, she lost track of time and soon the sun had gone down and Ami's mom had come home.

"Excuse me? Who are you?" She demanded, making Hotaru look up from her book.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Dr. Mizuno. I'm a friend of Ami-san's, and she asked me to look after her while you were at work. I hope you don't mind..." She suddenly blushed and looked down at her book. Dr. Mizuno looked over at Ami, who was still asleep. She felt her forehead and drew back in surprise.

"Her fever is gone!" She looked over at Hotaru. "You did an impressive job of keeping her company, miss. She was clearly in good hands."

"Thank you! I hope I did good, since it's a dream of mine to become a nurse!"

"I think you'll make a fine nurse. Now your work here is done, so please go home and let me tend to my own daughter."

Hotaru nodded and started to put her book up, but Dr. Mizuno shook her head at her. "I'll handle it, just leave it on your chair." Hotaru nodded again and gently set it back down on her chair, then went home. Her own house was fairly close to Ami's, so she had no trouble finding it despite the darkness.

Dr. Mizuno put the book up and hung the wet washcloth back up. Ami slowly woke up and look at her mother in surprise.

"Mom? You're home early..." She managed in her groggy state.

"There wasn't much for me to do today. And there's not much to do here either, since your fever is already down, thanks to your little friend." Her mom explained. "Can you hold food down? If not I won't make you dinner."

"No, I can't." Ami answered, and her mom simply nodded and went into the kitchen. "Thank you for taking such good care of me, Hotaru-chan..." She whispered to herself, then fell back asleep.

##############

Meanwhile, the next day, all of the Inner Senshi found themselves perfectly healthy, while Michiru and Haruka most certainly did not.

"Why are we the ones who always fall ill?" Michiru demanded as Setsuna pulled her hair up into a ponytail.

"Well now you can tell us all about how your days as nurses went!" Hotaru smiled. "Starting with you, Setsuna-mama! How did your time taking care of Minako-chan go?"

"Her? It was terrible. She always demanded things she couldn't keep down, only to puke them all back up again, and repeat the cycle. It was a nightmare." Setsuna sat down on a chair and held her head, as if the simply memory gave her a headache. "I don't want to think about it."

"Really? Sounds like a very interesting story." Michiru grinned at her.

"Yeah, now you have to tell us since you brought it up!" Haruka grinned as well.

"Please tell us, Setsuna-mama? It's not like we're going anywhere!" Hotaru smiled at her, and Setsuna sighed.

"Alright, since you three insisted so much, I'll tell you the story. As you know, it happened yesterday, and I was assigned to her because I figured my maturity and level-headiness was something she would need, being as sick as she was..." And thus, Setsuna told her tale, which is literally a tale for another day...


	2. Nurse Setsuna

Around the same time Hotaru was taking care of Ami, Setsuna had assigned herself to take care of Minako, a task she thought would be easy. She showed up to Minako's place in a black sweater, tan pants, black heels, and a white lab-coat, looking very much like a modern doctor. She knocked politely on the door.

"I got it!" Minako announced, running over to the door and opening it. "Setsuna-san! What are you doing here?" She asked.

"We all heard you girls weren't feeling very well, so we decided to take it upon ourselves to be your personal nurses for the day, is that alright?" Setsuna explained. Minako nodded.

"Sure, sure, come in! Mom and Dad are out right now, so it's just me. Mom took my tempeture before she left and said I had a fever, so watch out for that!" She winked at Setsuna.

"You seem awfully smiley for being sick." Setsuna teased, and Minako coughed with a small blush appearing on her face. She jumped back into her bed and awaited Setsuna. "So, did you need anything?" She asked, looking over Minako. Her flushed cheeks showed signs of her fever, and her hair was down with no bow in it. Her pajamas were striped blue and white with big buttons going down the front.

"Water! All I want is water!" Minako yelled, laying down on her pillow. By her bedside was an orange basin that was empty, although Setsuna assumed it wouldn't remain that way for long.

"Are you sure you'll be able to keep it down?" Setsuna asked nervously, and Minako nodded.

"Of course I can! If one is sick with a stomach bug, one must sip water slowly! And that's what I'll do!" Minako reassured her. Setsuna shrugged and went into the kitchen and poured some ice water into a blue glass. She gave it to Minako, who sat up and took small sips of it every few seconds. She managed to drain half of the glass and put it on her nightstand beside her basin. She laid back down, but had trouble falling asleep.

"How high is your fever?" Setsuna asked, placing her hand on Minako's forehead.

"Not very high." She responded weakly. Setsuna took her hand away.

"You're certainly warm, and I can see your flushed face, but other than that, you seem fine. Your fever should go down by itself in a few hours, or at the very latest by the end of this day."

Minako sipped a few more drinks of her water, then put the cup back. "I've been puking all day today and I feel so dehydrated. I need to replace my fluids!" She explained.

"Dehydrated?" Setsuna wondered. "In any case, if you can keep your fluids down, replacing them is a good thing to do."

Minako suddenly sat up and dissolved into a violent coughing fit. Setsuna looked at her in alarm. Minako grabbed her orange basin and puked water into it with a greenish tint from her bile. Afterwards she put it back and laid down with a groan. Setsuna gave her a look.

"You can't keep water down?" She asked.

"No, and it sucks! I need water, but can't keep it down! Even if I sip the tiniest bit, I chuck it back up with some bile mixed in!" Minako complained. She gestured over to the basin.

"Then perhaps you should focus more on resting and clearing everything out of your system before you try replacing it." Setsuna suggested, her irritability starting to show. Minako shrugged and sipped more water.

"You said all four of you guys were doing this. Who is everybody else assigned to?" Minako asked nicely. Setsuna sat on the foot of her bed.

"Well, Hotaru is in charge of Ami-san, Michiru is in charge of both Makoto-san and Rei-san, who are currently staying at Rei-san's place, so luckily she doesn't have to move back and forth, and Haruka has both Usagi-san and Chibiusa-chan." She listed.

"I wonder how they're doing?"

"I'm sure they're handling it fine. The only one I have concerns about is Haruka, who can't cook to save her life and can get rather impatient, but surely she'll be fine. After all, they're likely too sick to eat and will most likely sleep all day!" Setsuna giggled and Minako giggled with her.

"Why'd you choose me?"

"Because I thought my maturity and calmness was something a hyper and energetic person like you needed while they were sick. You need someone patient to deal with your many complaints."

"I would hardly call them complaints." Minako shrugged. "This reminds me of something that happened about two years or so ago."

"Really? Do tell me about it." Setsuna smiled a bit.

"Well, it was back when we were fighting the Black Moon Clan. One of their associates created a really bad influenza and infected the whole city with it! Everyone got sick with it except for me and Chibiusa-chan, so I took it upon myself to take care of everyone!" She winked.

"And how did that go?" Setsuna asked.

"According to them, not very well. After all these years, I agree with them. My heart was in the right place, but I didn't execute my idea very well! I should've just left them all alone to get some rest." She sighed.

"At least you showed them how much you care about them! That's all that should matter."

"You're right. All this time though, I never anticipated it would happen again, and I would end up getting sick too!"

"Do you think this is also done by the enemy?"

"No, since only us are sick. Mom and Dad are fine, and clearly so are you four. Like I said, this was the whole city who was sick, instead of just a few people. They would have to know our identities, and they obviously don't!" Minako giggled weakly. She grabbed the basin and hurled into it again, then put it back up. She handed her empty cup to Setsuna. "Can I have a refill, please?"

"No, you can't keep it down!" Setsuna shook her head at her.

"I have to restore my fluids!" Minako insisted.

"Not until you can hold them down!"

"I can't get sicker because of dehydration sickness!"

"That's not a thing!"

"Yes it is! Just ask Ami-chan's mom!"

"Whatever! I'll give you more water, just don't complain when you can't hold it down." Setsuna grumbled and filled the cup up again and handed it to Minako, who sipped it gently and set it back on her nightstand. She curled up in her blankets and instantly fell asleep, so Setsuna started to explore Minako's apartment.

There wasn't much to look at, since Minako was middle-class but clearly didn't have parents who wanted to spend a lot of money. The kitchen had a kitchen table and chairs in a corner of it, and a lot of the counters had seen better days. The floor was kept in pretty good shape though. The living room had a flat-screen TV in it, along with a dozen rainbow-colored lamps positioned on various tables. A small computer on a desk was positioned off to the side, and Setsuna turned it on to find it amazingly worked, despite its aged appearance. She turned it back off and checked back on Minako, who was still asleep.

She felt bad already for snooping around, so decided against looking in her parents' bedroom and their bathroom, and instead started watching very quiet TV in the living room. After nearly an hour, she heard the sound of painful puking coming from Minako's room and figured her to be awake again. She quickly ran in there and found Minako about to get out of bed, holding her basin in front of her.

"I was just going to rinse this out...unless you want to do it instead?" Minako held it out to Setsuna and she took it.

"Get back in bed, you need a lot of rest. Probably way more rest than the other girls do." She wouldn't leave until Minako got back in bed and wrapped herself up in her blankets again. She took the basin into the bathroom and dumped the mess down the toilet and flushed it, then rinsed it out in the bathroom sink. She briefly considered pouring some soap in it to make it smell nice for Minako, but decided against it when she realized Minako would just make it smell bad with her vomit again.

She was walking back to Minako's room when Minako suddenly ran past her, partially dressed and in a clear hurry. "Wait, where do you think you're going? You need to stay in bed and rest!" She demanded.

"An enemy was spotted in town! I just got a message from Rei-chan about it! I gotta go help them!" Minako explained in a rush. She was about to take off again when Setsuna lightly tugged on her hair.

"No way, Senshi business or not, you're sick, and you're staying in bed! Let the healthy Outer Senshi deal with this." Setsuna pulled out her pen, but Minako did as well.

"We're all Sailor Senshi, so we're all in this together! I won't sit around and let my friends fight! Do you think Usagi-chan is going to sit this battle out? If she's not, why should I?"

"Sometimes your leadership quality can get overbearing..." Setsuna laughed, making Minako laugh along weakly. "Alright, you can come, but if you start to feel bad again, don't push yourself. Your health is important, and when you have ten of us to spare, you should've have to push yourself."

"Understood! Now let's go defeat some evil!" Minako grinned again.

#############

They were the second group of Senshi to arrive, after Neptune with Mars and Jupiter.

"Pluto! You should've convinced her to stay at home! She's too sick to be out!" Neptune snapped. She felt Venus' forehead. "You still have a fever! Go home this instant!"

"I'm fine, damn it! I tell you, I'm fine!" Venus glared at her before exploding into a coughing fit.

"Yeah, we're all healthy enough to fight!" Jupiter insisted before leaning against a pole and splashing green bile vomit all over it. She struggled to catch her breath.

Uranus showed up with both Eternal Sailor Moon and Super Sailor Chibi-Moon in tow.

"They insisted to come with me." She explained to an upset-looking Neptune.

"Good job, Sailor Moon! Don't let them force you into bed!" Venus winked.

"You could've phrased that a better way..." Mars noticed.

"Quiet, they're at work!" Pluto demanded, and all the girls got behind the bushes and watched silently as Sailor Lead Crow demanded to see a woman's Star Seed.

"Such a famous nurse who helps sick people must have a true Star Seed! It only makes sense, since you shine brightly!" Sailor Lead Crow smiled.

"I have no idea what you're talking about! Just leave me alone!" The woman demanded.

"I'm afraid I can't do that!" Sailor Lead Crow fired a blast from her bracelets and hit the woman with them, making her scream as her Star Seed popped out of her forehead. "Surely it'll be a good one!"

Saturn and Mercury showed up last, looking the healthiest out of everyone else.

"Mercury! You're here too!" Venus said in shock.

"Why didn't anyone listen to us when I said to stay in bed? You six are way too unhealthy to be fighting!" Neptune demanded.

"We feel just fine! Right?" Jupiter asked, looking over at Mercury with a smile. Mercury simply spun around and puked, shocking Saturn.

"We can handle this, with or without Mercury!" Venus announced. Jupiter and Mars jumped out of the bushes to confront Sailor Lead Crow and do their poses.

"Too late, you have my monster to deal with now! She didn't have a real Star Seed, which means she'll turn into a monster." Her phone-booth appeared and she got in it with a grin. "Also, you guys should try investing in a shower. You reek of puke!" She laughed and vanished.

The woman turned into Sailor Nurse.

"I feel like I'm getting a familiar feeling, like I did something like this before..." Venus wondered, making Pluto look over at her.

"That fight with the Black Moon Clan! Just do what you did there!" Pluto encouraged her, and Venus nodded. Before she could do her attack, however, she and Mars were tied up by the monster's stethoscope and were tightly squeezed in it. They both screamed in pain.

"Deep Submerge!" Neptune launched her attack at Sailor Nurse, knocking her back and breaking her hold on Mars and Venus. The two girls quickly jumped up, happy to be freed.

"Time to check your reflexes!" Sailor Nurse formed a giant hammer and aimed it at Mercury, who barely noticed due to her coughing fit. Saturn jumped in at the last second and pushed her out of the hammer's path, making it hit the ground and vanish. "Time to take your medicine!" She flicked her wrist and several types of pills flew out in different directions, aimed at various Senshi. Eternal Sailor Moon simply screamed and ran away from her pills.

"Mars! Flame Sniper!" Mars fired her attack at the pills, making them melt. Her attack took a lot of her energy out, so she swooned and had to lean on a pole to recover it.

"My turn! Venus! Love and Beauty Shock!" Venus fired her own attack at the monster, making her fall to the ground. Her pills hit the ground with her. "Now, Sailor Moon!"

"Alright!" Eternal Sailor Moon pulled out her wand. "Silver Moon! Crystal Power Kiss!" She fired it at the monster, who got swallowed up by its light.

"Beautiful!" She screamed and transformed back into a regular woman, passing out and letting her Star Seed return back into her head.

"I think we did alright for being sick!" Mars bragged, flipping her hair.

"Only because we were here! If not for us, you guys would be dead!" Uranus shot back.

"But now we have to go back home and continue to take care of you guys more..." Pluto sighed, making Venus glare at her.

"Excuse me, I am an amazing patient!" She protested.

"You are right, you are...when you're not asking for things you can't hold down." A small smile appeared on her lips, and Venus glared at her more.

#########

Unlike Ami, the second Minako got home, she insisted her fever had gotten higher, and when Setsuna checked it, she confirmed it had.

"It's what you get for fighting while you're sick!" She scolded.

"It's what a leader does! She does anything that's possible to save both her team and her world!" Minako protested with a smile on her face.

"There's that leader in you talking again." Minako's half-empty cup was still sitting on her nightstand, seemingly forgotten. Setsuna was glad it was. "Do you know when your parents will be back?"

"They said something about a movie and dinner date, so they should be home in a few hours. I can take care of myself in that time, if that's what you're worried about." Minako curled up in her blankets as if to prove her point.

"Yes, sadly, I have to get home to my own family and see how their days as nurses went. Even though you're not a very good patient, you still gave me an interesting time as your nurse." Setsuna smiled at her. "Promise me you won't replenish your fluids until you can keep them down, alright?"

"I promise!" Minako smiled weakly, then fell asleep. Setsuna turned her light off and hurried back to her own place, finding the other three already there.

Later on Minako's own parents came home, her mother checking on her. "Oh, she's already asleep. Good, it'll help her recover quicker. Her face is still flushed, so she still has her stupid fever. Let's hope she recovers quickly though, she's such a pain when she's here."Her mother rolled her eyes and turned Minako's light off again and left the room, leaving Minako alone to sleep.

########

"And that was my day over at Minako-san's." Setsuna finished.

"That wasn't as bad as you made it out to be, Setsuna-mama!" Hotaru decided.

"Yeah, but nothing could compete to the day I had yesterday." Michiru insisted before coughing.

"Really? Then maybe we should hear that story too!" Hotaru smiled at her, making Michiru sigh.

"Fine. As you know, I was in charge of two girls, Rei-san and Makoto-san. Basically total opposites except when it comes to their temper. Who knew someone so sick could show such a bad temper?" Michiru's story, however, must wait for another day...


	3. Nurse Michiru

Around the same times both Hotaru and Setsuna were taking care of their patients, Michiru was preparing to take care of her own. She certainly had her work cut out for her, since she had to take care of two girls instead of just one. Keeping with the nurse theme, she put on her nurse outfit and headed over to Rei's shrine.

Everything was quiet when she got there, and knocked on the door of what she assumed to be Rei's bedroom.

"Come in!" Someone's sickly voice croaked out, and Michiru assumed it to be Rei's. She slowly stepped inside.

"Hello? Rei-san? Was that you? It's me, Michiru!" She called out, walking inside. She found Rei asleep in her bed wearing heavy purple pajamas, and she looked around in confusion.

"No, it was me." Makoto's sickly voice answered, and Michiru looked over at her. Makoto had fashioned herself a small pallet at the foot of Rei's bed, and instead of wearing pajamas, she was still in her regular clothes. She coughed.

"Why are you here? And why are you in casual clothes?" Michiru asked, keeping her voice low so she wouldn't wake up Rei.

"I spent the night here but felt too sick to change out of these. The pallet is also from last night. Rei-chan was nice enough to let me stay here longer, although I bet it's only because she herself is sick." Makoto tried to smile weakly but ended up coughing again. "Can I ask what's up with your outfit?"

"Oh, this? We all dressed up like nurses to take care of you guys since you're sick and we're not..." Michiru's outfit was a short white dress with a red cross on her pocket breast, white fishnets, white pumps, and a matching white hat with a red cross in the center. The dress didn't even cover her knees and was a typical sexy nurse costume.

"Whose idea was it?" Makoto demanded.

"Hotaru's. She said that if we were sick, you guys would take care of us, so she said we might as well return the favor." Michiru explained, and Makoto simply nodded.

She flopped down on her pallet and Michiru noticed the girl's hair was cascading down her shoulders instead of being tied up in its usual ponytail.

"Where are your pajamas?" She asked, and Makoto pointed over at a dark green overnight bag. Michiru went over to it and tossed out a pair of lime-green pajamas to Makoto, who simply threw her regular clothes off and threw on those. She didn't even take her bra off.

"Is there anything in particular you need?" Michiru asked, sitting down on a desk chair.

"Not really. Me and Rei-chan have both been vomiting up bile all night last night and earlier this morning. She finally fell asleep an hour ago, but I haven't been so lucky." Makoto laughed weakly. "Could you tell me a story? I'm sure thatll cheer me up."

"A story? Alright, but what kind of story?"

"A time when someone in your family got sick and what you guys did about it."

"Well, as you know, Hotaru grew at an accelerated rate after she reawaken as Sailor Saturn. That's why she's ten years old right now. We thought that this fast growth also came with heightened immunity, meaning she would hardly ever get sick. Well, we were wrong. Shortly after her first battle after awakening, she came down with a really bad flu. At least, that's what we thought it was. Not even Setsuna had seen something that bad and couldn't place it. She slept almost the whole time, and her fever rose up so high at one point we considered hospitalizing her. One of us was always at her bedside, just to tend to her if she woke up, but she never did. And one night, all of a sudden, her fever broke, and she woke up for the first time in almost a week. We were so overjoyed, we bought her anything she wanted for the rest of the week. Ever since then, she's fallen to a seasonal bug here and there, but nothing ever as bad as that." Michiru explained, a hand on her heart as she told the story.

"Must've been a reaction to growing up so fast." Makoto suggested. She pulled her knees up to her chest. "You said all four of you are doing this? Who is everyone else in charge of?"

"Hotaru has Ami-san, Setsuna has Minako-san, and Haruka has both Usagi-san and Chibiusa-chan."

"I wonder how they're doing?" Makoto wondered. They both heard someone stirring from Rei's bed and both looked over to find Rei sitting up and stretching.

"Michiru-san? Are you my nurse or something?" She asked in pure confusion, and Michiru giggled and nodded. "Okay." Rei fell back down in bed, too sick to try and make sense of anything. Michiru walked over to her and felt her forehead.

"Your fever is very high! Hold on, I'll get you a washcloth to help bring it down." Michiru started to leave for the kitchen.

"Wait! Bring us some basins too! Empty ones." Makoto directed before falling back on her pallet. "And I think I might need a washcloth too..."

"Alright, noted." Michiru giggled and went into the kitchen, where she soaked two washcloths with cold water, then rummaged around in the pantry for basins. She soon found a dark red one and a light green one, and found them both to be the perfect size and depth to be used as a vomit-basin, so she took those.

She carried the washcloths and basins back into the bedroom, and gently placed the cool washcloth on Rei's forehead. "There, this should help bring your fever down." She explained softly. She handed the second one to Makoto, who plastered it to her forehead herself while sitting up. Michiru set the red basin on Rei's nightstand and handed the green one to Makoto. Almost as soon as she was handed it, Makoto threw up dark green bile into it, dry-heaving for most of the ordeal. Afterwards, she looked up at Michiru, her long locks framing her sickly pale face. "Why isn't your hair up?" Michiru quickly scolded.

"Too sick..." Makoto moaned.

"You might get vomit tangled into it!" Michiru ran over to Makoto and pulled her hair up into her usual ponytail, using a red bow from Rei's dresser to secure it. "There! Now you're ready!" She smiled a bit.

"Can you do mine too?" Rei asked weakly from her bed, and Michiru giggled and grabbed both a purple bow and hairbrush.

"Of course!" She went over to Rei's bed and sat beside her and started gently brushing her hair as Rei stared down at the ground.

"Do you know any other stories you could tell us? It's way too quiet around here without Rei-chan's temper." Makoto asked, partially glad Rei was too sick to respond with an insult to that.

"What kind of story do you want?" Michiru asked, and Makoto thought about it.

"If you adopted a daughter of your own, what would you name her?"

"That's an easy one! I'd name her Umi." Michiru giggled.

"You would name her beach? Really?" Makoto asked in disbelief, and Michiru simply nodded as she tied the bow up into Rei's ponytail.

"Why not? It is a love of mine, and I would love my daughter, so I would name her that. Besides, it's such a pretty-sounding name regardless, right?" She smiled.

"Then I should have permission to name my daughter Keki! Since I love cake!" Makoto smiled weakly, and Michiru giggled harder.

"It sounds nice regardless." She eased herself off Rei's bed and Rei fell back onto her bed, soon falling asleep again.

"I hope I can get married someday and have children. It's a dream of mine, to not only own a bakery or flower-shop, but to also have a happy marriage." Makoto sighed blissfully. "When we visited Crystal Tokyo, I should've asked my older self what I had accomplished."

"Nothing is set in stone, though. Just because she accomplished all that doesn't mean you will unless you make certain choices." Michiru warned.

"I didn't know you opposed fate so strongly!"

"Who said I did?"

Makoto, instead of responding, started hurling up green bile into her bowl again, coughing and dry-heaving loudly before and after the act.

"Wow, this is a nasty curse, huh?" Michiru asked in a worried tone.

"Curse? What are you talking about?" Makoto stared at her in confusion.

"Isn't this being done by the enemy? It would make sense, wouldn't it?"

"No, I don't think it is. They don't know our civilian identities, so they would have to infect the entire city, and you four clearly are alright, and so is Rei-chan's grandfather. He helped me set up my pallet last night."

"Oh, so it's just a nasty bug." Michiru said, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Yup." Makoto grinned.

Rei had woken up again, this time for real, and gently adjusted the cold washcloth on her forehead. "What happened?" She asked weakly, still partially in some sort of fever dream.

"You have been sleeping for a very long time." Michiru explained nicely.

"Oh, okay." Rei said calmly.

"Why don't you play us some music?" Makoto demanded suddenly, sitting up on her pallet.

"Well, alright, but I didn't bring my violin." Michiru walked over to Rei's cassette player and started sorting through her various cassette tapes. "Do you have any classical music recorded?"

"I don't know..." Rei said in a weak tone.

"I think she might have some piano music, or maybe a bamboo flute recording. Let me look." Makoto jumped up and started to search through the tapes as well, eventually finding the bamboo flute. "This will do. Be careful though, this is her own recording of her playing this, so I don't know how good it is in terms of quality!" She laughed, making Michiru giggle as well. A brown pillow was launched in Makoto's general direction, but it fell short and landed harmlessly at her feet. Makoto opened the cassette player and gently placed the tape inside, then closed it and hit the play button.

"I do not sound bad." Rei shot back, her illness making her unable to keep her usual big vocabulary.

"I said I don't know if you do or not since this is your own recording." Makoto explained, sitting back down and hurling into her basin.

"Well, I do not sound bad!" Rei insisted.

Soon, the tape started playing, the audio being a bit scratchy, possibly because the recorder was stuck between couch pillows or something, but the three could easily make out the sound of a slow and graceful melody being played. It was also lonely-sounding, since it had no piano or other accompaniment, but it still sounded nice. Michiru soon pictured herself walking along a beach barefooted, gazing out the orange sunset that had soon melted into the ocean water, the vibrant oranges, pinks, and reds mixing with the dark greens and blues to create a mismatched and beautiful color palette of nature.

"Isn't it pretty?" Rei sighed happily, daydreaming from the sounds of her own playing.

"Where did you learn to play like that?" Makoto asked in disbelief.

"A friend of Father's was a huge fan of Chinese influence and music. He taught me a lot about their culture, and I was amazed to learn our culture shares a lot of roots with theirs." She explained, remembering being dressed up in a golden Mandarin dress with her hair bun being held in place by a cherry-blossom branch. Her face was painted and she would sit on the edge of a bridge with her father's friend, listening to him play the bamboo flute for hours on end. One day, he asked if she wanted to try, and the moment she said yes, her lessons had begun. It was strange, in her thoughts, for a Shinto priestess to be so in-touch with Chinese culture, but if she took away nothing else from their outings, she at least wanted it to be her Chinese bamboo flute skill.

The tape ended all too soon, and Michiru quickly put it back on and surrounded the room with a good, relaxed feeling once more. Suddenly, she felt a strange but strong disturbance, and quickly gripped her pen in her breast pocket.

"Hey, I have to do something really quick, I trust you two are old enough to take care of yourselves?" She teased, quickly sliding Rei's bedroom door open and stepping outside. She pulled out her pen.

Rei, despite wondering where she had gone, couldn't muster up her energy properly, so she simply sat up in bed. Makoto, on the other hand, had much more energy and ran outside.

"Michiru-san!" She cried out in surprise after seeing Super Sailor Neptune standing where she assumed Michiru to be. She couldn't say anything else, however, because she painfully hurled out more green bile.

"Please, go back inside! An enemy is in the city, but you're too sick to come with me! Leave this to us Outers!" Neptune demanded coldly, glaring at her.

"Hey, sick or not, we Sailor Senshi stick together! If you're going out fighting, then we're going with you!" Makoto pulled out her own pen.

"Rei-san is too sick to come with us." Neptune pointed out, shortly before Rei walked out unbalanced on her two feet.

"Makoto-chan's right, we stick together." Rei stared Neptune down before dissolving into a coughing fit.

"You two just don't know when to quit, do you?" Neptune teased a bit, and the other two smirked.

"That's why we were chosen to protect our princess!" Makoto declared, quickly transforming herself into Super Sailor Jupiter.

Rei slowly did the same, wrapping herself up in a blanket again after transforming. "Hopefully this will be a quick fight, I still have a fever," She protested before wobbling and falling flat on her face.

"Mars!" Jupiter cried in concern, and Neptune covered her face in embarrassment.

"Trust me, at this rate, it will be a very long fight."

##############

Neptune led her girl duo to the area where she felt the enemy waves, explaining an enemy was due to show up at any moment.

"And afterwards. I'm taking you two straight back home! It's not healthy to be out like this!" She finished, wagging her finger.

"Relax, we're most likely the only Inners who will even show up." Mars smirked before dissolving into another coughing fit that brought her dangerously close to puking. After she finished, both Super Sailor Pluto and Super Sailor Venus arrived, much to the delight of Mars and Jupiter and much to the horror of Neptune.

"Pluto! You should've forced her to stay home! She's too sick to be out!" Neptune marched up to Venus and felt her forehead, drawing back at its heat. "You still have a fever! Go home this instant!"

"No way, I'm a Sailor Senshi, damn it! Plus, I'm fine!" Venus insisted before coughing.

"Yeah, we're all healthy enough to fight, why can't you just accept that?" Jupiter demanded before turning as green as her uniform and splashing green bile vomit all over a telephone pole. She leaned against it to try and catch her breath.

"Does that look healthy to any of you? No, it does not!" Neptune insisted.

Super Sailor Uranus arrived with Eternal Sailor Moon and Super Sailor Chibi-Moon and was met with Neptune's glare.

"What? They demanded to come with me and wouldn't let up until I did." Uranus explained with an eye roll.

"Good for you, Sailor Moon! We're heroes! And heroes aren't forced into bed, not even by their friends!" Venus winked.

"You could've phrased that a little bit better..." Mars sighed, holding her head to stop the ground from spinning under her feet.

Pluto had demanded that everyone be quiet, and soon she was joined by the others as they watched Sailor Lead Crow harass a young nurse for her Star Seed.

"Please, just let me see you for an interview! My television studio would love to have such a famous nurse on our morning show! It helps that you're famous not only here in Japan, but America and India too!" Sailor Lead Crow gushed in her disguise.

"I wish I could, but I am very busy, so could you please be on your way?" The woman asked nicely. "Ask me some other time." She tried to leave, but Sailor Lead Crow blocked her way.

"You're such a bright shining star though! Surely, you must have a pure Star Seed?" The villianess smiled coldly.

"What are you blabing about? Just leave me alone!" The nurse demanded, her tone suddenly shifting into one of irritation.

"Oh, then you simply must have a real one! Only a true holder would deny it like that!" She threw off her disguise, revealing her avian appearance.

"What are you?" The nurse demanded, taking a few steps back. "Just go away!"

"I can't until you show me your true Star Seed! Don't be shy!" Sailor Lead Crow fired her bracelet energy at the nurse, passing through her and making her chest glow.

She screamed as a Star Seed popped out and quickly turned black, making Sailor Lead Crow pout slightly.

"I could've sworn she was the one! How will I avenge my fallen partner now?" She demanded, turning around only to be faced with Jupiter and Mars.

"Hey, you interrupted our recovery session! For that, you shall pay!" Mars demanded, doing a pose.

"Yeah, can't you see we're in no state to fight?" Jupiter did another pose, and soon the two were joined by the remaining Senshi.

"What, you're sick? Well, thankfully my monster has just the cure for you! Maybe she'll bathe you too, since you two stink of vomit." Her phone-booth appeared, and she quickly stepped inside. "Well, so long!" She vanished, just as the woman turned into a monster.

"Sailor Nurse!" The sexy nurse monster grinned and formed a stethoscope. "First, to check your heartbeat!" She spun it around in several directions like a lasso, eventually tying both Venus and Mars up with it before either could attack her.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Venus protested before the two fell to the ground. The monster squeezed the rope around them tighter, making them both scream out in pain.

"Hey, that's my patient!" Neptune protested, doing her attack and breaking the rope around them.

"Yes, we're free!" Mars announced happily, and the two hurriedly got up before the monster could tie them up again.

In the meantime, the monster formed a giant hammer and tried to smash Mercury with it, but Saturn pushed her out of the way just in time.

"Time to take your pills! Open wide!" The monster chirped, flicking her wrist and sending several different types of pills flying at the Senshi.

"Don't hit me!" Eternal Sailor Moon screamed, running away in a panic from them.

"There are no fever pills!" Mars teased. "Mars! Flame Sniper!" She fired her attack at the pills aimed at her, melting them all into a multicolored puddle at her feet that soon vanished. The attack took a lot of her energy away from her, so she badly stumbled and leaned against a pole to recover. "Whoa, I think I'm done,"

"Then let me take it from here!" Venus grinned, jumping in front of her. "Venus! Love and Beauty Shock!" She vaporized her own pills, then looked over at her leader. "Now, Sailor Moon!"

"Alright!" Eternal Sailor Moon nodded back, forming her wand again and doing her finishing attack.

"Beautiful!" Sailor Nurse cried out before turning back into the regular woman, who passed out after having her Star Seed return to her head.

Afterwards, Mars couldn't help but to brag, despite her still very-high fever. "See? I think we did alright for being sick!" She flipped her hair.

"Only because we helped! If we weren't here, you would've been dead!" Uranus shot back.

"Hey, we did do this before without you!" Jupiter argued, giving her a dirty look.

"I guess we still have to take care of you guys tonight," Pluto said with a very small hint of resentment in her voice.

"She's right, don't think you've gotten rid of us!" Neptune teased, running ahead of her girl duo. The two protested hotly and ran after her, unable to catch up because of their fevers.

########

"It's late, so sadly I have to go home. Will you two be fine by yourselves?" Michiru asked nervously.

"Of course we will be! After all, I took care of myself alone for eleven years now!" Makoto grinned, making Michiru giggle.

"We'll be fine, we have my bamboo flute tape!" Rei smiled weakly.

"I think you were a good nurse today." Makoto praised.

"Thank you, I try my hardest." Michiru smiled and picked their basins up. "I'll empty these out before I go though. You two somehow managed to fill them up!" She dumped them out into the kitchen sink, then placed them back at their bedsides. "Alright, have a good night now!"

"Wait, hold on!" Rei cried, reaching out for her basin blindly. She missed it by a long shot and knocked it to the ground, and accidentally grabbed Michiru's dress hem and pulled her close.

"What is it?" Michiru asked, only to get a huge green bile stain on her side. She covered her mouth, and Makoto tried her best not to burst out in total laughter.

"Oh, I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" Rei quickly apologized before covering herself up again.

"It's fine, you are sick, after all." Michiru said calmly, slowly stepping into the night.

########

When she finally did get back, Hotaru was waiting for her, and the first thing she caught sight of was her stain. "Is that pea soup?" She asked nicely, and Michiru simply kicked her heels off and flopped on the couch.

"I don't want to talk about it," She moaned.

#########

"So now you all know my story." Michiru finished. "I'm most likely sick now from Rei-san's vomit!"

"I think yours was the best so far." Hotaru praised nicely.

"You can't make that judgement yet, we still have one more story to tell." Setsuna explained, and everyone looked over at Haruka.

"So I have to share my story now?" She demanded, and everyone nodded eagerly. She sighed.

"Fine, but don't expect anything exciting about it! I was in charge of the two rabbits, as you guys already know. I figured it would be an easy day, since those two sure can sleep! I thought they would just sleep all day." Haruka started.

"Well, did they?" Hotaru asked happily, walking over to her side of the bed.

"You're getting ahead of the story!" Setsuna scolded, and Hotaru quickly sat down.

Haruka's story is the last story in this tale, but sadly, you must wait to hear the rest some other time...


	4. Doctor Haruka

When the other three Outers were preparing to take care of their patients, Haruka was already halfway to the Tsukino house, wanting to get started as soon as possible.

She knocked on the door, soon being greeted by Usagi's younger brother, Shingo.

"Oh, are you a friend of hers?" He asked in a bored tone, staring at Haruka's doctor outfit.

"Yes, she asked me to come here to take care of her while she's sick." She explained, and Shingo just nodded and let her inside.

"Her room is down the hallway. Our cousin's room is upstairs in the attic." He explained, waving her in that general direction before leaving.

Haruka simply left his attitude alone and knocked on Usagi's bedroom door. "Hello? Are you awake in there?" She asked softly, opening the door up a crack. Instead of seeing Usagi awake and running around her room, she instead found the younger girl asleep soundly in her bed, a dozen little red bows tied up in her loose hair.

She kneeled beside her bed and placed her hand on her forehead, finding Usagi to have a small fever remaining. Haruka looked around the bedroom, but didn't find a vomit-basin anywhere, so she assumed Usagi was past that part of her illness and decided to go check on Chibiusa instead.

Haruka ran up the stairs to the attic, expecting to find Chibiusa asleep as well. Instead, she found Chibiusa sitting up in her bed, reading a book. Her hair was down as well, but didn't have anything in it. She looked up at Haruka's footsteps and stared at her in both surprise and confusion.

"Haruka-san? What are you doing here?" She asked, and Haruka walked over to her. "And why are you dressed like that?"

"The Outers and I heard how sick you girls all were, so Hotaru decided we should take care of you guys in your time of need. She said you guys would do the same for us, so we should do it for you." She smiled a bit, although Chibiusa's expression didn't change.

"It was nice of her to suggest that, but I'm afraid I'm not sick anymore! My fever is down, and I don't puke anymore!" She declared, making Haruka raise an eyebrow at her.

"Maybe you'd like to try eating then?" She offered, and Chibiusa nodded. Haruka put her hand on Chibiusa's forehead, only to find the younger girl's claim was correct: she had no fever.

"Usagi-chan is still sick though, she has a fever! Leave it to her to recover so slowly!" Chibiusa teased. She closed her book and set it aside.

"Would you like me to finish reading that book to you?"

"No thank you, I've read it several times already, so I practically have it memorized! But you can still look at it, if you want to." She handed the book to Haruka, who read the title to herself.

"The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter? That's a classic." She gave her the book back.

"I know. For some reason, I really relate to that story. A princess from the moon alive on Earth due to a giant space battle?"

"You relate to that? Impossible, that's not your life!" Haruka teased, making Chibiusa giggle.

"What's with your outfit?" She asked, pointing to it.

Unlike the other three girls, Haruka had gone for a more masculine approach to the nurse idea, instead wearing a white polo shirt with a stethoscope around her neck, white short-shorts, white kneesocks, and white sneakers. A white nurse's hat with a red cross was on her head, and she had a nametag on her shirt that simple read: 'Doctor Tenoh'.

"All of us dressed up like nurses, but I wanted to be a doctor." She answered, then kneeled by Chibiusa's bedside. "Do you need anything right now?"

"I'm really thirsty, can you please get me something to drink?" She asked nicely. "I had some water earlier and kept it down, so I think I'm ready for some orange juice now."

"Alright, coming right up!" Haruka nodded and went back downstairs, deciding to check on Usagi again. This time, she simply let herself into her bedroom, finding Usagi to be awake and slowly petting a sleeping Luna. She felt someone looking at her and looked up at Haruka.

"Haruka-san!" She said in surprise. "What are you doing here? And why are you dressed like that?"

"Hotaru wanted us to take care of you guys while you were sick. I just happened to get you and Chibiusa-chan. I'm a doctor!" Haruka answered, walking over to her bed. "I was just going to get Chibiusa-chan some orange juice, do you want anything? Can you keep it down?"

"Just some water, I'm afraid anything else would come back up." Usagi answered softly.

"Do you have any idea why you and the others are so sick? Do you think the enemies did this?" Haruka asked with both a serious and threatening tone in her voice.

"I don't think so," Usagi answered. "The last time the villains made us sick, they made the whole city sick, and you guys and my parents and brother clearly aren't sick. It's just a stomach bug..."

"It makes sense they would go after the whole city if that was the case. I suppose you're right." Haruka responded.

"But what if the enemies actually do attack while we're sick in bed like this?" Usagi asked with a sudden note of worry in her voice. "I'm healthy enough to fight, but I don't think the others are."

"Then you'll have to leave everything to us Outers. We have it covered." Haruka said, standing up. "Now, I have to go get your water and Chibiusa-chan's orange juice. I won't be too long." She left the room, leaving Usagi alone with Luna again. She simply started to pet her again.

Haruka went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, finding a large carton of orange juice in there that was still half-full and pulling it out. She got two large glasses down from the cupboard that were green, and she filled one up halfway with water and the other all the way up with orange juice. She put the orange juice back and delivered that one to Chibiusa first.

"Here is your orange juice." Haruka said, handing it to Chibiusa.

She took it and started drinking it slowly, apparently still nervous about losing it. After she drained about half of it, she placed it on her nightstand. "You took a while, did you get lost?" She asked nicely.

"Oh no, Usagi-san was awake so I decided to check on her and see what she wanted. That's why I have this water." Haruka answered, pointing to it.

"What did you talk about with her?" Chibiusa persisted.

"I asked her if she thought the enemies were causing her sickness, and she was also concerned about having to fight while the other girls are sick." Haruka explained in a serious tone.

"You wouldn't stop us from fighting, would you?" Chibiusa asked in a serious tone to match her caregiver's. "After all, Usagi-chan and I are healthy enough to take care of ourselves."

"I would want you to be safe," She said simply. "Now I have to give this water to Usagi-san." She got back up and with a polite smile and bow, she left the attic and hurried into Usagi's room, finding her still awake in bed, writing something. She had a large textbook in her lap to provide a hard surface, and her pink pencil was moving rapidly, spreading messy characters all over her paper. She felt someone's presence and smiled when she saw it was Haruka.

"Ah, Haruka-san! Did you bring my water?" She asked happily, and Haruka nodded and handed it to her. She instantly drained it quickly and placed the empty cup on her nightstand. Haruka expected her to hurl it all back up, but she showed no reaction, so she figured Usagi was finished throwing up.

"What's that you're writing?" She motioned to the paper, and Usagi blushed.

"Oh, I'm writing to Mamo-chan! It's a letter, see?" She showed her current progress to Haruka. "I was actually almost finished with it!"

"Oh, I see..." Haruka commented softly. "So, how was recovering from your sickness?" She politely changed the topic and handed the letter back to the younger girl.

"It was very hard! I remember I wasn't able to eat anything and I thought I was gonna die!" Usagi lamented overdramatically, throwing her hands up. "But Momma took very good care of me yesterday, that's probably why I recovered so fast. I only vomited about once or twice, and my fever went up only by a few numbers, then just as quickly went back down."

"You were the first one to get sick, right?"

"Yeah..." Usagi admitted sheepishly, blushing. "And then I spread it to everybody else!"

"I'm sure they're fine, they're all in very good hands."

"Are all four of you guys doing this?"

"Yes, Hotaru said if we had all gotten sick, you'd take care of us, so we're just returning the favor." Haruka smiled a bit.

"Who does everyone else have?" Usagi asked, holding her forehead.

"Hotaru is in charge of Ami-san, Setsuna has Minako-san, and of course Michiru has both Rei-san and Makoto-san!" They both giggled. "I wonder if they're doing a good job?"

"I don't know how sick they are..." Usagi played with her hair nervously.

"Want me to tell you a story?" Haruka changed the topic again, but Usagi shook her head. Haruka got up and picked her cup up. "Well, you're right, I need to be monitoring your temperature! Hold on, I'll go find a thermometer."

"It's in the bathroom counter above the sink!" She called out to Haruka as she left the room.

Luckily, Haruka heard her, and after she put the cup in the sink she took out the thermometer and carried it back to Usagi's room. It was a simple white one, but she couldn't tell if it was a mercury thermometer or not. "Alright, I got it!" She stated, and Usagi opened her mouth and allowed the cold object be slipped under her tongue. She then closed her mouth and waited a few seconds, then Haruka took it back out. "Wow, your temperature's almost back to normal! Congratulations!"

"Wow, really? That _is_ good news!" Usagi smiled.

"Is there anything else you need?" Haruka asked, but the blonde-haired girl shook her head. "Alright, let me know! I'm going to check on Chibiusa-chan."

She climbed up the stairs to Chibiusa's room and found her out of bed, playing ball with Diana. She was throwing the ball at the wall for Diana to catch, then the grey kitten brought it back happily.

"I've never seen a kitten play fetch with another kitten before," Haruka mused.

"Hey, Diana likes this!" Chibiusa protested with a small smile.

"Did you finish all our orange juice?"

"Yup! Could you please bring me some more? I managed to hold it down, which is good! Oh, and there's some cereal downstairs too! Could you please make me a bowl and bring it up here too?" She piled on.

"Can you keep food down?" Haruka asked nervously, but Chibiusa answered her with a nod.

"I can keep both water and orange juice down, so that's proof we need to introduce food again!" She threw the fuzzy pink ball at the wall again.

"Well, alright, but don't overdo it!" Haruka went back downstairs and poured another glass of orange juice, then poured both the wheat cereal and milk into a small pink bowl and supplied it with a spoon. She slowly walked up the steep attic stairs and handed it to Chibiusa, who was back in bed.

"Delicious!" She grinned when she ate the cereal. Haruka sat there and watched her, not having anything else to do. Diana walked up with a smile and dropped the ball at her feet.

"Want to play with me?" She asked sweetly, and Haruka picked the ball up with a nod. She chucked the ball against the wall, and Diana happily bounced after it, pouncing on it and meowing. She did that several more times until two different events happened.

Firstly, Chibiusa had finished her cereal and announced that she had done so, placing the empty bowl on her nightstand.

Secondly, Haruka got a call on her communicator from Michiru about there being a new enemy, and after she agreed, Chibiusa jumped out of bed.

"There's an enemy attack? Then I'm coming too! Don't tell me no!" She announced in a bratty tone, pulling out her brooch.

"It'll be too dangerous, especially if you two are the only ones fighting! I can't risk it. Go back to bed." Haruka demanded, pulling out her pen.

The two were interrupted by the sound of Usagi walking up the stairs in her frilly, pink, ankle-long nightgown, wearing a serious expression on her face. "Is there an enemy attack? In that case, I'm going too." She revealed her golden brooch in her hand.

"It's too dangerous, you two need to stay here!" Haruka continued to insist.

"I can see Chibiusa-chan not being of much help, but you need me to be there, no matter what! So please let me go! I'm a Sailor Senshi, it's my duty to fight!" Usagi pleaded.

"But you still have a fever!"

"What about the others? Do you think their illness will prevent them from doing their duty? No, because it's their duty to fight no matter what, and it's our job too!" Chibiusa stated, rubbing her brooch. "Moon Cosmic Power, Makeup!"

"Moon Eternal, Makeup!" They both transformed into Super Sailor Chibi-Moon and Eternal Sailor Moon, respectively.

"You two are a pain," Haruka decided with a groan before transforming herself into Super Sailor Uranus.

"But you put up with us! That's true friendship!" Chibi-Moon teased.

############

Once they arrived, Neptune and Pluto were already there with their own Inners, and while those said Inners were very happy to see their leader, the Outers most certainly were not.

"What are those two doing here? Go home!" Neptune snapped.

"They demanded to come with me," Uranus shrugged in defeat.

"Yeah, that's right Sailor Moon!" Venus cheered. "They can't force us into bed!"

"Venus! Phrasing please!" Mars demanded.

"Everyone, be quiet!" Pluto said, and everyone ducked inside the bushes to watch the taking of the nurse's Star Seed.

"Come on, let me see your pure Star Seed! Your denial makes it clear to me you have one!" Sailor Lead Crow said, ripping off her disguise and hitting the nurse with her bracelets, making her scream.

Her Star Seed turned black almost instantly, betraying her status as a regular civilian. Sailor Lead Crow simply pouted. "Seriously? I came all the way out here for a dud? I'll never avenge my fallen partner now!"

"Hey! Leave that nurse alone!" Sailor Moon demanded suddenly, jumping out of the bushes.

"You are cutting into our much-needed recovery time! For that, you'll pay!" Mars said, striking a pose.

"Recovery time? You're sick?" Sailor Lead Crow asked in curiosity. "I can certainly tell, you all smell like vomit. Maybe my monster will hose you down! Oh Sailor Nurse!"

The girl turned into a sexy nurse monster, just as Sailor Lead Crow stepped into her phone-booth. "Well, have fun!" She vanished, leaving the Senshi at the mercy of the monster.

"Let's check your heartbeat!" The monster said cheerfully, forming a large stethoscope and spinning it like a lasso, soon throwing it out and roping in both Venus and Mars. Venus protested hotly, resulting in the rope being tied even tighter around them.

"Sometimes...you need...to...be...quiet...Venus..." Mars scolded as she gasped for air.

"Deep Submerge!" Neptune called, doing her attack and breaking the rope around them. "Nobody messes with my patient!" She smirked, and the two quickly got up before they could be attacked again.

"Tie to check your reflexes!" Sailor Nurse formed a giant hammer and nearly brought it down on Mercury before Saturn yelled out a warning and shoved her out of the way.

"You saved me...!" She said in surprise.

"Of course! It's only right for a nurse to rescue her patients when needed!" Saturn winked and got up off Mercury.

"Let's take some medicine!" Sailor Nurse flicked her wrist and sent several massive pills of various colors out, aimed at the Senshi.

"Don't let them hit me!" Eternal Sailor Moon announced, instantly darting out of their path.

Mars performed her attack and drained her energy pretty quickly, nearly fainting on a telephone pole afterwards.

"I got this!" Venus promised, doing her own attack and melting the pills aimed at her. She looked over at Sailor Moon. "Now, Sailor Moon!"

"Right!" Eternal Sailor Moon nodded and pulled out her wand, doing her attack.

"Beautiful!" The monster cried out, turning back into the young nurse and passing out once her Star Seed was returned.

"We did just fine for being sick!" Mars bragged, flipping her hair. She seemed to have forgotten her almost-fainting episode.

"Only because we were here to help! If not, you all would be dead!" Uranus shot back.

"Yes yes, well we all fought and won, now it's time to go back home!" Venus cheered, making Pluto roll her eyes.

"Oh right, you guys still need our care," Neptune suddenly realized as well, her face darkening.

"Let's go home, Uranus!" Eternal Sailor Moon suggested with a smile. "I still need to finish my letter!"

Uranus smirked a bit. "Yes, let's go home." She led the two patients of her own home.

#########

"And that's how my day went at the Tsukino house." Haruka finished softly.

"You left a lot of stuff out! What happened _after_ you got home?" Hotaru asked, running up to her bedside.

"It wasn't very interesting. Her mother thanked me for my care and work and I went home. That's it."

"At least you didn't get vomited on!" Michiru snapped, sitting up in bed.

Their bedroom door suddenly opened, revealing the Inners standing there in their cool summer clothes, holding various presents in their arms.

"Ding-dong, we've come baring gifts!" Minako smiled, her cheeks still blushed red from a remaining fever.

"We just wanted to thank you for all the help you gave us yesterday," Ami admitted shyly. "It was a huge help. You four are amazing nurses." She strode over to Hotaru and handed her a nurse doll. "I know you probably don't play with dolls, but you can use her for decoration in your room. She can remind you of your goal!" She smiled.

"Thanks!" Hotaru smiled back and hugged the doll.

"We both pitched in!" Makoto said to Michiru. "I made you a sea-green sponge cake! It's in your fridge."

"And I got you this!" Rei pulled a cheery-blossom branch out her bag, fake of course. "It's a hair pin. You can place it in your bun for extra effect!" Her cheeks also showed signs of a remaining fever.

"That's so nice! And the branch is so pretty. I'll wear it right away!" Michiru tied her own hair up into a bun and carefully stuck the branch in, giggling.

"You look pretty!" Hotaru gushed.

"I actually wasn't sure what to get you, so here." Minako admitted, opening her box. Inside was a shining pearl necklace.

"Thank you, it's very beautiful." Setsuna said politely, taking the box from her.

"Minako-chan! Such a mature gift!" Makoto said in surprise.

"Open my gift first, Haruka-san!" Chibiusa said, giving it to her.

"No, mine!" Usagi insisted, handing hers over as well.

"No, mine!"

"She should open mine first!"

"No, she should open mine!"

"Girls! I can open them both!" Haruka teased, smiling. She opened them both at the same time, revealing a storybook in both. Chibiusa's was a book of fairy tales, its main feature being The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, while Usagi's focused on folklore, featuring the story of how the rabbit came to be in the moon. "How nice! I wonder what made you two select those stories,"

"They just came to us," Usagi grinned.

"Thank you very much for your presents, girls." Setsuna said, standing up. "But both Haruka and Michiru are sick, and I know you girls don't wish to be sick again, so please leave. You may return when they are healthy."

"Ah, no need to be rude! We were just leaving!" Minako promised, grabbing Ami's hand and running out with her.

"She wasn't being rude, she was telling the truth!" Rei stated, leaving with Makoto.

"Goodbye! I hope you feel better soon!" Usagi promised, smiling and leaving.

"Recover quickly!" Chibiusa left as well.

"We have such good friends! I knew it'd be a good idea to take care of them!" Hotaru smiled.

"Yes, but now I'm sick!" Michiru cried, dissolving into a large coughing fit.

"Oh dear..." Setsuna said wearily, holding her forehead.

Hotaru giggled.


End file.
